Five ways to pass the Summer Break!

Remember when you were at school and the holidays came around? Yes, the joy was there for a few days but then the boredom set in, with constant “What do you want to do today?” from your all-too-keen parents. The time used to pass slowly and it was hot. It’s kind’ve like the F1 summer break; there’s ages until the next race (19 days, not that we’re counting or anything).

So what can you do to pass the time? The Badgerometer tries to give some hints and tips to help you get over the gap.

Read a book

What better way pass any sort of time than with a good book? There’s plenty on offer for your F1 needs, including the ones pictured above. There’s plenty of choice, whether it be biographies of the sport’s favourite characters (and Bernie Ecclestone), or a good examination of rivalries throughout the decades. We can thoroughly recommend Senna vs Prost, a detailed look into both great driver’s careers and includes something the Senna documentary missed – an interview with Alain Prost himself.

Play a game

Not like a board game or anything, we mean the best racing video games money can buy (or rent, to be honest). F1 2010, although nearly a year old, is still the best representation of Formula One on any platform. If you don’t fancy precision racing, how about something a little less grippy with Dirt 3, also made by Codemasters? It’s rally driving at it’s very best, but not only that, you also get a crack at Ken Block’s famous Gymkhana routines. More on that later.

And if you’re salivating over the release of the anticipated F1 2011 – the sequel to F1 2010, funnily enough – you can read our hands on test from last month here.

Watch a film

A few "racing" genre films, plus a few with driving inspired titles

OK, so the films in the picture above are a little loose when it comes to racing content, but then again, if you like your action high octane then I’m sure there’s something in there for you.

Maybe that’s what you’ll be missing the most though – a bit of action. There isn’t really an F1 film that can manage that – maybe a documentary of two – so why not try Days of Thunder, the NASCAR drama from 1990? Sure, it stars Tom Cruise, is a bit cheesy and drags on a bit, but the racing is spectacular to watch.

Just stay away from Driven. Trust us.

Scour YouTube

If you can’t afford to go out and get DVD’s on a whim, fear not – there’s a whole vault of racing goodness at your fingertips online! Simply type “Formula One” into YouTube and you get a feast of examples of how great the sport is. We did, and got these two cracking videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OilctTl9Xik

There’s some glaring errors in the last one. Badger points go to those who can spot them!

And of course, we get back to Ken Block, who is quite the internet sensation. On August 16th, he’ll debut the next video in his range of Gymkhana displays, cleverly entitled “Gymkhana 4”. To get you acquainted with his work, here’s his most recent video, erm, “Gymkhana 3”!

Attend some live motorsport

Perhaps the best way to get through not watching F1 is to attend a real life motorsport event. It’s usually affordable, always bags of fun and, so long as you don’t mind rubbing shoulders with the odd racing anorak (we don’t, so long as they’re clean) full of great people.

There’s tons to choose from: like unnecessarily big wheels? Go watch some monstor trucks at Santa Pod Raceway, Northamptonshire on August 21st. Want to see F1 drivers of the future in action? Formula Renault 3.5 runs at Silverstone that same weekend and has a mega grid this season. This weekend we’ve got the Richard Burns Memorial Rally, the Club Lotus Show & Festival at Donington and some classic motorcycle racing at Darley Moor Motorsport Centre. We don’t even know where that last one is but it sounds fun. So if you’re missing the excesses of Formula One why not remedy the emptiness with something altogether more pure: a bit of club-level motorsport.*

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